At the Beginning With You
by slstmaraudersjple
Summary: A story of two people, a tale of two strangers... their journey of love and life... from the very beginning to their tragic end.


Disclaimer: Don't own. Naruto belongs to the super awesome Kishimoto-sama. Happy? The song comes from the Anastasia soundtrack, belongs to Disney (I think?) and Donna Lewis and Richard Marx. I love this song. It's the best song ever. Go listen to it on youtube.

Summary: A story of two people, a tale of two strangers… their journey of love and life… from the very beginning to their tragic end.

At the Beginning With You

By: slstmaraudersjple

He took a deep breath.

Finally, finally. Finally, he was away from those girls who wanted to hug the guts out of him.

He tucked his hands inside his shorts' pockets and stalked down the road, past a tall cherry blossom tree.

All of a sudden, he stopped.

He swore he heard someone sniffling… someone… _he grimaced_… crying.

Just to be sure, he turned around and in all directions. Nobody.

He took another deep breath and peeked around the tree.

A girl about his own age (six or seven, he guessed), with bubblegum pink hair, was curled up at the roots of the tree, her hands forming fists that covered her face as she sobbed.

-

_We were strangers, starting out on a journey  
Never dreaming, what we'd have to go through  
Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing  
At the beginning with you  
_

-

Another grimace.

He really didn't want to be here.

"G-g-g-go away!" He turned to the girl, who had paused in her sobbing to look up and give him a glare… with her deep, emerald eyes.

Which shocked him.

First of all, n_obody _glared at him! He was _Uchiha Sasuke_, of the _Uchiha_ clan! The best in Konoha! Better than the Hyuugas! Nobody, _nobody_, glared at him. Except maybe his elders and parents… and the Hokage.

But this girl, this sniffling, sobbing, miserable creature… she glared at him!

Even worse, she looked angry. Angry… at him???

He almost leaped back. "Hey! Learn some respect!" He tried to compose himself.

After all, he had a reputation to live up to.

"Who are you?" The girl glared at him again.

He almost yelled at her, before remembering that he was _Uchiha Sasuke_, and stopped. "For your information, you… you… you sniffling sobbing miserable creature… person… it's Uchiha Sasuke."

He silently congratulated his inner self, who was jumping and whooping and complimenting him in every way. _'You show her! You rock! Go Sasuke, go Sas, go Sas, you rock, uh-huh, go Sas, you rock, you da bomb, UCHIHA SASUKE!!! Give me a U! U! Give me a C! C!' _

"Haruno Sakura." The girl introduced herself, still glaring at him with those unusual deep eyes.

Second! She was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid his eyes on. His inner self told him that it was love, but he silently seethed. Love was for idiots. _'You never know… you might end up marrying her and have lots and lots of babies and live happily ever after and –'_ Sasuke cut off his inner self by tying him up and locking him in an imaginary well.

-

_No one told me I was going to find you  
Unexpected, what you did to my heart  
When I lost hope, you were there to remind me  
This is the start_

-

"Uchiha Sasuke." The twelve year old prodigy was bored in his seat.

"Haruno Sakura." The instructor called next. The bubblegum haired girl jumped up in joy, her eyes sparkling.

"Uzukami Naruto." The instructor called the final member of the team. The blonde jumped up with joy, at being in the same team as his crush, and the girl sank down in her seat, obviously disappointed.

He felt a bemused smile crawling up his face, and hurried to compose himself, while, at the same time, fighting the urge to punch the blonde for making her upset.

-

-

"You fail." Kakashi said, looking down at them.

Haruno Sakura immediately tried to redeem herself in their sensei's eyes. "But it wasn't Sasuke-kun's fault!" She protested.

"I'll give you one more chance." The jounin finally said.

-

-

Sasuke offered his lunch to Naruto.

And once again, she protested, saying that they had to follow orders.

"You're no use to me if you don't eat." The Uchiha told Uzumaki.

After a little bit of deep thought, she too, offered her lunch to Naruto.

-

-

"You pass." The jounin gave them what looked like half a smile and half a wink.

Creepy.

-

_And life is a road that I wanna keep going  
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing  
Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey  
I'll be there when the world stops turning  
I'll be there when the storm is through  
In the end I wanna be standing  
At the beginning with you  
_

-

"Protect him at all costs!" The jounin called, and the trio surrounded the old man – Tanaza.

The opponent flew at them from all directions, and immediately, they rushed to defend him.

-

-

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura sobbed, when he opened his eyes.

"Sakura…" He mumbled. _IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIlo-_

She stopped sobbing.

"You can let go now…" He finished.

-

-

The battle with Itachi… ended horribly.

Weak. He was weak.

He needed strength.

-

_We were strangers on a crazy adventure  
Never dreaming, how our dreams would come true  
Now here we stand, unafraid of the future  
At the beginning with you  
_

-

"_SASUKE-KUN!"_ She cried as he fell.

The man with the snake… whoever he was… was gone. The snake bite stung, and then hell came over him.

-

-

He woke up. He felt powerful.

The first thing he saw was _her_.

Covered in blood. Her hair was shorter. Her clothes were ripped, torn.

He was immediately consumed with fury. With anger.

"Sakura… who did this to you?" He asked, his voice husky, low, and dangerous.

"Me." One of the nin stepped out.

-

-

"Sasuke-kun! Stop… please…" He felt her wrap her arms around him, sobbing into the back of his shirt.

He felt his eyes widen the slightest fraction, and felt the power receding.

-

_And life is a road that I wanna keep going  
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing  
Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey  
I'll be there when the world stops turning  
I'll be there when the storm is through  
In the end I wanna be standing  
At the beginning with you  
_

-

Him versus Gaara.

The battle had just started when they got news that the enemy was attacking.

It was so fast.

A blur.

First, Second, and Fourth Hokage.

Another blur.

They fell.

One more blur.

Hand seals. Lots of hand seals.

And then…

Sandaime Hokage fell.

After the snake man – Orochimaru – howled in pain and was carried away by one of his men.

-

-

The other jounin had tried their best. They sent the genin somewhere safe, and went to assist as best as they could.

They were too late.

-

-

Black. They all wore black to his funeral. Everyone was depressed.

They needed a new hokage.

-

-

Sasuke got ready to leave.

It was dark when he snuck out.

"Are you going to leave?" A soft voice asked.

He turned around.

-

_Knew there was somebody, somewhere  
A new love in the dark  
Now I know my dream will live on  
I've been waiting so long  
Nothing's gonna tear us apart  
_

-

Her. Again. Haruno Sakura.

"I'll stop you. I know all about your clan… and revenge. It won't make anybody happy. No one… neither you, nor I…" She whispered, her eyes filled with determination.

He felt furious all of a sudden.

Didn't she realize he was doing this for _her_?

Protecting her from Itachi… he wanted to come back… and fulfill his other goal. Marry her and restore his clan.

"I'll scream!" She threatened, her eyes filling with tears.

There was a soft _whoosh_, as he appeared behind her, and with one well aimed move, he knocked her unconscious, whispering, "Thank you," as he left her lying on the bench and went with Orochimaru's men.

-

_And life is a road that I wanna keep going  
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing  
Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey  
I'll be there when the world stops turning  
I'll be there when the storm is through  
In the end I wanna be standing  
At the beginning with you  
_

-

"TEME!" Naruto shouted, another fox tail appearing in the rage, in the swirl, of charka.

He activated the next level of his seal.

Both boys charged at each other.

_BOOM._

They both flew back several feet and were knocked unconscious.

He woke up first.

He approached the unconscious Naruto.

Now was his chance to kill him and gain the Mangekyo Sharingan.

Now was his chance.

He approached… and stopped.

He left Naruto there, with his headband and a slash through it.

-

_Yeah  
_

-

Two years later, they met again. Team 7. Him, Sakura, and Naruto.

Sakura, he heard, was training to be a medic nin. She was training under Tsunade, the new Hokage of the Hidden Leaf.

Naruto, on the other hand, was training under Jiraiya.

Both she and Naruto nodded at each other.

He looked on with controlled emotions. Inside, he was raging with jealously.

In a flash, they disappeared.

He sensed one charka in front of him and one behind him.

On pure reflex, he grabbed the one behind him – Sakura – and spun her around, in front of him, using her as a shield.

Naruto halted, his eyes wide in surprise.

-

-

Sakura was sobbing. Sobbing so hard.

He had made her kill him.

He made her kill Naruto.

Naruto never stood a chance.

"Why?" She kept asking, her tears dripping uncontrollably.

"Why?" She asked him, her eyes filled with tears and pain.

-

_Life is a road that I wanna keep going on  
Love is a river, I wanna keep going  
_

-

"I love you." He replied.

That was all there was to it.

-

_Starting out on a journey  
_

-

They both killed Orochimaru.

They became missing nin.

Rumor was that Haruno Sakura was spelled with a jutsu. Uchiha Sasuke forced her to do his bidding.

She was innocent. That was the rumor.

She wasn't. She and Sasuke did whatever they did… for love. Their love for one another.

-

_Life is a road that I wanna keep going  
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing  
In the end I wanna be standing  
At the beginning with you_

-

They were cornered.

Konoha's nin, along with Sand's nins… rather, their old friends that survived – Kakashi, Neji, Hinata (Tsunade's new apprentice), Sai, Ino, Shikamaru, Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, Kiba, Kurenai, Tenten, Lee, Shino, Chouji, Shizune, and the Hokage herself – they all surrounded the two.

"Give up." Neji called.

"We might let you off easier if you surrender." Kakashi added.

"Nobody gets hurt." Shizune said.

Both Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other, sending mixed messages only understood by each other.

They leaned in for a kiss, a passionate kiss.

A mix of anger, fury, disappointment, bemusement, sadness, and everything in between flashed through the nins. They pulled out their weapons, ready to fight to the death.

In a flash, both Sakura and Sasuke pulled apart.

Sakura gave them a smile… a smile so innocent, so pure, that she looked almost like her twelve year old self… and Sasuke. Sasuke gave them his famous smirk… his smirk that reminded them of when he was twelve… and the two lovers fell to the ground, lifeless.

"NO!" Ino cried out in horror, sinking to the ground, crying. Shikamaru reached over to comfort her.

Kiba held Hinata while tears slid down her cheeks.

Tenten's face was emotionless, yet her eyes betrayed her. A single tear slid down her cheek.

Tsunade and Shizune were hugging each other.

Sai stood by, emotionless.

The rest of the nin had their heads bowed silently, either blessing or cursing them.

Kakashi reached them first. "Suicide. They poisoned themselves – on the lips, of course - and killed each other when they were kissing."

"Cowards!" Tenten hissed in anger.

"No." Ino interrupted them all.

They all turned to her. "They did it in the name of love."

-

-

A story of two people…

A tale of two strangers…

Their journey of love and life…

From the very beginning to their tragic end.

**FIN.**

* * *

A/N: I tried to stick to the original storyline as best as I could, but if there are any mistakes, please let me know.

Thank you for all you wonderful people who have actually read my stories and enjoyed it. It means a lot to me. Keep up the awesome support!

Did you know? There's an ANIME EXPO in LONG BEACH in CALIFORNIA!!! It's from Friday, June 29, to Sunday, July 1. Tickets are between $25 - $30. If you're going, have fun! (:


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